game GIRL revolution !
by Mr. Jengablock
Summary: Make your dreams come true with GGR!*. WAKE UP PLUG IN (*dreams not included. results may vary.) [literal video game character!Yuu is learning how to be alive. Surely these nice shinobi will teach them humanity?]
1. Press Start

**→ PRESS START**

 _I exist._

My sudden existence startles me.

There _isn't_ , and then there _is._ Two distinct moments, one in which I _am_ , one in which I _was not._

Origin. Original. I am conscious of my own consciousness.

I try to lift my head, to raise my arms, but there is a distinct lack of response. I suddenly am aware that I am not what I expected to be. I feel as though I should have arms to raise and a head to lift, yet there is not anything where it should be. I do not exist in that way.

But I do exist, I'm certain.

I… have no body.

Startling. To say the least.

I feel like I should _have_ one of those, and I'm confused for several reasons. Firstly, I cannot remember ever really having a body, but I know what one is like. Just as I cannot remember what color the hair would be, or if I had hair, or if I had legs. But I know the _concept_ of "body" and I _definitely_ should have one.

Everything is fuzzy. I am strangely weightless, in a literal sense. And weightless in a metaphorical sense as well, I think. Everything is not fuzzy, I decide, because everything is actually crystal clear with jagged glass edges and it is all a puzzle jumble that doesn't make a tableau because everything is really just _concepts_. Like body, like hair, like leg. I don't really know what they mean, in the sense that I cannot picture what they are or say what they are like. I know what they _are_ but they are just precise meanings.

They are words. I am a dictionary but there are no accompanying pictures.

There is nothing real and I merely exist. I am just, something. Where once there was nothing. I exist, as all things do. And I don't, as all things don't.

I _exist_ in a box. Or maybe it is a room. It extends for a time, some measure of it I cannot quantify because it is appears to be an eternity, and yet I can see walls rising forever upward to the sky. Or roof. Or, the top of the box?

Whatever it is, I cannot perceive it. Or perhaps, I cannot _conceptualize_ it. It can perhaps, be defined in qualifiers. I cannot say precisely what it is, but I can talk around it and form an image of it. Instead of something else, it is inky blackness. I know what that is. I can see it with my own…

My own?

Well, I _conceive_ of it. And it is conceived above me, by something that is not me, because I was conceived into it. Does it exist in the way that I do, defined by what it is _not_? It is not _emptiness_ because that is what I am not now. And though I do not know what I am, I do know what I am not.

There is a pulsating light, a brilliant green. It flows through the room (box?) in grids of lines, straight or curving or something else. There is no rhyme or rhythm to its motion it just pulses, endlessly, like a beating heart. It goes up, up, up, into the darkness, fading before it ever reaches the end. If there is an end. Can something be infinite?

Is it alive?

Am I alive?

I exist.

Is that enough?

 **→ PRESS START**

It's not a voice. It is not a physical thing like a language. It's a thought, but it isn't my own. It is words. Everything I know is words.

I know what these words mean, but I do not _comprehend_.

Press [ start ]?

And everything I know explodes.

Or, it doesn't. But it might as well have, because I am reeling. There is so much now, things like colors and sounds that I didn't know before but for their names and now they _are_ and I _am_ and it is almost too much for me to understand. The world is abruptly white, brightly so, and it is very different from the green and black that was before. There is no longer infinity. There is confinement, boundaries that I cannot see because it is all white.

But I _know_ boundaries now, intimately. It is a void of white, a prison of knowable dimensions, and I long for the unknowable infinity that I had once been in. If I could walk, if I had a body, I could find a wall, I knew. And I would be stuck there, following a wall around and around.

There is nothing here.

Except for what is here.

One, me. I still exist.

Two, glowing words in the center of the horridly definite white box, flaming in a muted rainbow and rippling as if in some localized breeze. And a sound, or several. Music?

 **game GIRL revolution !**

 **_WAKE UP PLUG IN™_**

How interesting. This is language. Written language. I know it better now. Below these giant words were smaller ones in a more sedate, purple-pink.

 ** _→ options_**

 ** _→ new game_**

The last line was dull and slightly blurred. I could barely make out the words, [ load game ].

A text flashed next to the option: **No saved data available.**

I know _data_ , just as I know _girl_ and _revolution._ Information, especially programmable information as in a computational device. And I knew there was apparently none of that. It was, again, it was like…like _data_ (I felt a thrill of triumph at being able to apply the concept. My understanding was increasing, it seemed.) without any legend or key to identify the disparate parts.

My focus on the text, seemed to produce effects. The environment had changed when I had thought "start", and the text responded when I focused on the bottom line. Would the other lines produce different effects? It seemed likely. There was no information that refuted my hypothesis.

Was it possible that this white prison could be something else? Would it be something better? Or something worse? I didn't like this confinement, I found. I preferred the comforting darkness and gentle pulsing of the world that was before. If the words changed everything once again, would I dislike the new information even more than the current set?

Then again, logic stated that the environment I encountered would likely be something new, as well. And I could not form a judgement on something I did not understand, or even know, or even _conceive_ of.

This awful, tiny white box seemed to press in on me. The walls, so well defined and yet completely invisible, giving the illusion of infinity like a lie through stark white teeth. It was threatening. Or, it was not, because it was not sentient and had no intent. But it provoked a response in me as though I was being threatened.

Is this…fear?

No.

I didn't want to be here.

What would [ new game ] do?

The white seethed. Or perhaps it seeped? Inky blackness bubbled up in the space, in geometric shapes along the walls, massing up and slipping down through the box, covering one wall, and another, and what could be the floor though it might have been the ceiling or perhaps was just a wall as well. It had _mass_. It _was_ in a way that I was not.

I tingled. I don't know what that meant, but it was happening. The white was disappearing, swallowed up and it was black, black all around. The holes in the white, or the masses of black, merged and they grew and it seeped towards me.

The space shrunk, the white shrunk. I was being swallowed up. I was plunged into darkness. Into _matter_ , into _mass_. Things that exist.

I couldn't…breathe? Was I supposed to breathe?

I was _surrounded, consumed_ , I _was_ in a way I _was not before_ and I didn't understand and there was _something_ and I just couldn't breathe I couldn't couldn't I couldn't

 _Breathe_.

I drew in precious, precious air, my lungs expanding gratefully in hot, humid atmosphere. I could feel water condensing on my skin, or maybe it was my skin squeezing out water, trying to cool me in the heat of the blazing sun pelting me in unrelenting radiation.

I opened my eyes, and there was a gorgeous blue, ringed in flecks of green in perspective with one anther, so many specks so condensed that they were massive all together.

The _sky_. The _trees_. I let out a shuddering breath. And another.

I raised my arms and they responded, reaching above me towards that great, eternal blue. There were hands on the end of those arms. Small, pudgy fingered hands with dirty, short nails. The fingers twitched and moved, groping for the blue above them like it was something they could hold.

I laughed. I don't know why. I did it.

 **The game GIRL revolution ! game matrix has been activated.**

 **Welcome! You've taken your first steps in a whole new reality! A SuperReality! As a Player Character (PC), or Player, you'll interact with the world through the matrix, learning and growing as you conquer challenges and make friends! It's real life, but its YOUR dream!**

I drew in another breath. The words came to me as they had before, like concepts, merely engraved into my understanding. Something I hadn't known before that was now revealed to me. If I was lazy about it, it looked like words hanging in the air above me, but when I focused I knew it wasn't really out there, where my fingers held the sky between them.

It was something inside my head.

I don't quite understand these words, because they are all new things and they have no more context than any of the other concepts I have. There is a wealth of _experience_ before me now. I have already had so much of it. Water, salt, hair, body, blinking, trees and sky. I think the sky was most impressive for its sheer enormity.

There was so much to learn. I hadn't even turned my head yet and I felt overwhelmed.

 **Are you a new Player? Y/N?**

I'm a new everything, I thought. [ Yes ].

 **Would you to take a short tour of the matrix features? Y/N?**

I blinked. More strings of words, concepts to internalize. Well, my metaphorical first steps had already been taken. A pattern deserved to be played into existence, or else it was only hypothetical. Being hypothetical was difficult. [ Yes ].

 **game GIRL revolution ! has a unique, ergonomic matrix optimized for easy utilization and integration. The matrix is always active, but you can interact with it through [Menus]. A useful menu is the [Status Menu]! Try it!**

[ Status Menu ], I obliged.

A disk appeared, floating in the corner of my vision in a similar manner to the matrix's words. There was a face in the disk, and a neck and a pair of shoulders below it. I could see that it was a ring with little colorful beads along it's outer edge and two protruding bars in green and blue. Focusing on the disk brought it to the forefront of my vision, and I felt a curious coldness settle through my body.

 **The [Status Menu] can be viewed during gameplay to check your stats on the go, but in depth perusal "pauses" gameplay by speeding mental cognition to allow you time to do what you please. Obviously, your body doesn't experience a similar acceleration.**

It was unsettling that I couldn't move anymore. It wasn't similar to the box at all, because I could still _feel_ my body, and everything that my body was feeling, but it wouldn't react. Rather, the signal I sent it did not reach it at all.

 **Focus on the different parts of the [Status Menu] to get an idea for its use!**

I focused on the face, wondering what it was. Or, who it was. Perhaps that was the better question.

The disk closed up, but the face grew. The shoulders extended downward, revealing a slender form clothed in a white, tattered dress, ending in skinny legs and bare, dusty feet. The body centered in my vision, and the disk hovered to the side.

 **This is you! Aren't you adorable?**

I didn't know if I could agree. It was a face. Well, it was a body, now, as well. It had short, white hair and strangely colorless eyes. Or were they silver? I wasn't sure. What was adorable? Something soft? Was it a color, or a texture, or a shape? Did I have a combination of those that made me adorable?

Was that really…me?

There was a little box next to the body, it read:

 **Level 1, Name: ?, Age: 8, Gender: ?, Status: Healthy.**

How interesting. Why were the name and gender merely question marks? Was it a secret?

Maybe I didn't have a name or gender.

 **Right now, you're pretty puny! But you can add armor, weapons, and effects to increase your stats and even change your appearance. You'll grow as you level, of course!**

 **Let's check your statistics next. Focus on the disk, and then on a bead or a bar.**

I flicked my attention to the disk and it spiraled back to the center, swallowing up the person until they were once again just a head. I focused on the first feature from the top, a green bar.

 **These are your [Health Points] or [HP]. The bar shows how many points you have out of how many you are able to have. This number will change as you [Level Up]. You lose points when you are injured or affected by a detrimental, physical status effect. If your counter hits zero, you'll die! 150/150**

Die? Death, I thought. And then, I thought, death, murder, assassination, kill, off, bite the dust…On and on. I knew. I knew what that was. But I didn't know. I didn't have any idea. It seemed like it was something bad…but it could also be something good. It just was.

Like me. I just was.

I followed the progression of features. The blue bar below my HP was smaller.

 **This is your energy! In this case, it's internal chakra, counted in [Chakra Points] or [CP]! You can access other energies in gameplay! This is a measure of how much chakra you have and how much total you are able to have. This is tied to your physical and mental well being. If this counter hits zero, you'll be severely hampered. If left untreated, you could die! 50/50**

There are a lot of ways to die, I thought.

I let my eyes wander over the beads. They each had a specific color and a little icon within them that hinted to their purpose.

 **These beads are Attributes! Attributes are predetermined physical and mental characteristics assessed as levels, which are denoted by the number to the side. A certain level in a certain category may be required to learn certain skills or perform well in certain conditions.**

 **These categories are broad and reflect dozens or even hundreds of subcategories regarding the intricacies of the sapient mind and the body. You can "level" certain subcategories without raising the overall Attribute, but raising the Attribute will level ALL categories contained within.**

 **For instance, you can raise your Defense to a high level without raising your Strength, but raising your strength will raise your defense, along with your agility and your dexterity.**

 **Understand?**

Sure, I thought. Maybe. None of it was real, but none of it was unknown either.

I focused on each little bead in turn, and the matrix named their Attributes.

The little green plus sign was **Character: this represents your ability to interact with the world around you and covers subcategories such as expression, luck, and charisma. 1 (Unusually bad at emoting and interacting. A high intelligence score can help you bring this number up!)**

Only one? It seemed so low compared to the HP and CP bars I'd checked before. Even the matrix said it was "unusually bad".

The yellow cartoon fist was apparently **Strength: your physical abilities. This covers subcategories such as defense, dexterity, and agility. 23**

Next was a red "X", which showed my **Precision: a measure of efficiency that covers chakra control, targeting, and time management. 10**

The last two, a blue hammer and a purple arrow, were respectively **Willpower: a measure of determination and spirit. Far more important than most realize! 18** and **Intelligence: your mental abilities, including cognitive function, puzzle solving, and wisdom. 28**

So the 1 really was a low value, compared with the other Attributes. It couldn't be normal. The matrix said it was unusual. So why was it like that?

When no more information was forthcoming, I looked away from the disk. The world refocused, and I breathed once more.

 **Congratulations on getting through all that! You've earned a skill! [Inspect] will allow you to examine objects or beings more closely.**

A skill? An ability. It couldn't just mean any ability, could it? Was there some threshold between normal actions, like breathing and moving my arms, and something like Inspect?

As if sensing my querying, the matrix responded: **A skill is a learned ability in a predefined area. Skills can be learned or created using earned Experience Points (EXP), and some require certain traits or Attribute levels. Skills can be unlocked by coming into contact with situations, people, or objects. These can be upgraded through continual practice and usage. They can be leveled with the [Points] earned after you [Level Up] as well! There are some limitations to leveling.**

But apparently the matrix was not going to be forthcoming with those limitations, because it didn't continue.

So I could use these abilities through the matrix. Did it work like it had before? When I just thought, with clarity, to "start" or begin a "new game". Could I just [ Inspect ]?

My eyes were still trained on the sky.

 **A cloudless day and a vast blue sky. Isn't it unsettling to stare into the void?**

I blinked. Maybe, a little. There was so much nothingness, just endless color. It made me wonder if it really extended upwards or if that was a blue ceiling painted above me. It reminded my of the inky blackness of the box, except I wasn't sure there was anything up there, really. There was a sense of disconnection that had not existed in the grid.

Like I was more confined, now that I existed in this little body.

I rolled onto my side, tearing my gaze from the sky.

All around me, there were tall vibrant trees, rising like steady sentinels of the forest. My hand landed on spongy grass and earth. I dug my fingers into the dirt, just to feel it slide across my skin. I put my other hand to the earth and pushed myself away from it.

I stood.

The wind caught my dress, sending it rippling across my legs. In nearly every direction, there was an impenetrable wall of trees. The clearing I was in ended at a drop-off. I stepped towards the trees.

Then, thinking again, I went towards the cliff.

No, I spun in a circle. Unsure, uncertain.

Where was I? Did it have a name? Were there other sentient creatures here, or was I the only one?

Was I…was I _alive_ , now that I drew in breath after breathe and felt the blood pumping in my veins?

I existed in a way I hadn't before. I _existed_. I hadn't before. Not really, if this was anything to go by.

What was I? Was I like the inky blackness in the box, was I only defined by what I was not? By characteristics that could be attributed to me, which traced a pattern around me but didn't reach inside to the very heart of _what I was_?

Was I real in a way that the air was real, or was I a bundle of conceptual knowledge, like a theoretical formula with no application? Was I merely hypothetical? Was I perhaps a creation that was to act out the role of a Player? Was that my purpose?

Would it matter if I completed that purpose?

Was there a point in all this?

I had so many questions. There was so much more than the concepts that were within me. I couldn't fit these jagged edges together to form a coherent whole and I was left fumbling in nothingness. I brought my hands together and stared at them, opening and closing them. It _felt_. And that feeling seemed _real_. But it also didn't. Because I wasn't sure.

What was real? I didn't know what that was.

Just another concept. Like the words. Like the matrix. Like me. Like death.

A cessation of a living state. The end of bodily processes continuing life.

 _Could_ I die? I'd have to be alive to do it.

If I could, did it really matter?

If I could…

Would it hurt?

My eyes drifted to the drop-off. I found myself standing and ambling over to it. I tested the edge with my toes, pressing experimentally. The dirt at the edge crumbled slightly under the weight of my naked foot. I stepped back, leaned forward, took in the empty riverbed at the bottom of the drop-off.

I knew, strangely, in the way I was aware of many other things, that a fall from such a height had a high probability of killing me. If indeed, I was alive enough to be killed.

Would it even hurt?

I could test it. I didn't see why not.

I stepped off.

 **→ PAUSE**

 **Level 1, Name: ?, Age: 8, Gender: ?, Status: Mortally Injured.**

 **Character 1**

 **Strength 23**

 **Precision 10**

 **Willpower 18**

 **Intelligence 28**

 **[minor rewrites]**


	2. Tutorial

**→ PLAY**

It hurt.

There was a new comprehension of _pain_ rushing through me. It jolted and jumped, like a living thing, screaming through my limbs. The matrix whispered calmly, saying **Your legs have been broken!** and **You've sustained lung damage!** and a myriad of other stage strings of words that I couldn't focus on _comprehending._ I couldn't pay attention to it because this raging beast called pain was draining my thoughts right out of my cracked skull.

It was like my world was warping around the injuries I'd sustained, everything vying for my attention. It was the center of my universe, now, and everything fell away. There was no dirt in my mouth or in my eyes because there was just red-hot burning fire.

Distantly, I knew I was dying. My body shuddered and convulsed of its own accord, and it was _desperate_. Desperate to survive. I was full of instincts, I realized, instincts that I could identify but could not fight, not like this. My fingernails scrabbled at the dirt, my mouth opened around sobbing breaths.

I was, perhaps, alive after all. Or, at least, my body was. It desperately wanted to live.

How interesting.

 **You've been [Mortally Injured] and you are close to death! HP will replenish at a fixed rate if unaided so long as you are free of hampering status effects. Special states like sleeping can allow HP to regenerate more quickly.**

Sleeping, I thought desperately. Sleep, closing one's eyes and entering a period of unconsciousness with lowered brain activity. I…I needed to sleep. I had to end this pain. There was a knowledge in me that argued the danger of sleeping when I was so utterly destroyed. A state of unconsciousness may very well persist or deepen into death.

And yet.

It was so painful. Falling from a cliff was a very, very painful experience. I knew that now.

Shaking uncontrollably, I closed my eyes.

Sleep.

Sleep.

sleep

…

It didn't hurt any more.

I opened my eyes. My mind reasserted control over the body that it had temporarily seemed to lose.

There was a message hanging in my vision. Or my head. Or something.

 **New Skill! After a near death experience, [Death Sense] has been created. From now on, death isn't gonna sneak up on you! A passive skill, this is always active.**

It hadn't snuck up on me, I thought, I had tried to kill myself.

How odd.

I willed the message away.

Another popped up in its place: **New Skill! After taking severe damage, [Physical Resistance] has been created. You'll be harder to injure now! A passive skill, this is always active.**

Huh.

Still one more appeared.

 **You've slept for 16 hours! HP is full again! All injuries are healed!**

Would it always tell me how much I'd slept, or was there something special about that number? Sleep had been a strange thing—I didn't remember any of it. I had closed my eyes, and then opened them.

As the messages disappeared, I came to realize that I was not staring into the deep blue eternity of the sky anymore. Rather, I was staring at a sullen white. It wasn't the bright vivid white of that other place. It was stacked in boxes, tiles, and pitted with patches of darker color and dark grey lines where one tile ended an another began.

Where was I now?

There was something soft beneath my prone body, and I ran my hands over a coarse fabric. It was a bed, clothed in white sheets. There was a blanket lain over me, pulled up to my neck. The bed had a railing on either side as though to prevent me from rolling out of it.

How had I gotten here?

With effort, I pushed myself up off the mattress. The blanket fell from my body, revealing that the white dress had been replaced with a blue one of some sort. It had sleeves and a pocket, things my white dress had lacked.

I looked around.

It was a room. It was far smaller than the other rooms and it existed in a knowable space. It did not provoke fear in me, however, because the walls could be perceived and there were obvious exits. There was a door, and a bookshelf to one side of that door. I knew it was a bookshelf, as opposed to a different kind of shelving unit, because it had books in it. A stand sat beside my bed, which itself was placed beside a window. A curtain was drawn over the window, but a sliver of sunlight fell across my feet, which wiggled at my command beneath the grayish blanket.

Nothing hurt anymore. Nothing that could be classified as an ache or a pain was present. My HP had been restored and I was the same I had been when I first came to be in this body.

How interesting.

"Oh, awake already?" A voice drew my attention back to the door, now opened.

A woman in a white uniform was standing there in the threshold with a clipboard clutched to her chest. She had a pretty smile and wide brown eyes. Her hair was up and a hat sat on her head. She bustled into the room. After hooking the clipboard to the rail, she gently grabbed my chin and shone a bright light into one eye, and then the other. Then, she briskly checked the rest of my vitals.

"You gave us a real scare, coming in here all beat up like that! But you got fixed right up, huh?"

A nurse, I realized. Or a doctor? My understanding of those concepts wasn't perfect and I wasn't sure if there was a way to identify the difference. This was someone who worked to help other people recover from injuries and diseases, though, I knew that much.

I suppose I had been injured. It made sense. The nurse continued talking.

"The shinobi who brought you in said you fell off a cliff! That must of been really scary! But here you are, sitting up and everything! You're really hardy. Very brave."

"I didn't fall," I corrected her easily. I wondered what it would take to produce that sort of cheer in my voice. When I spoke, it sounded flat and low, an even tone with no gaps or pauses. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't like it either. I liked her voice. I wouldn't mind speaking like she did.

I continued, still dull despite my best willing: "I stepped off."

She stopped. Her hand was holding my wrist, limp in her grip, and she was staring into my face. The nice smile was slowly twitching downwards. "Y-you…stepped off? Wh-why would you do that kind of thing?"

"I wanted to know if it would hurt," I said truthfully. "I thought maybe I would die."

She gave me a look I couldn't quite identify. Was it because my Character stat was so low? The matrix had said I was unusually bad at interacting. Was this what it meant?

"Honey," the woman said, quieter and more with less cheer than before. "I'm going to go get somebody, and I want you to stay here and not move, okay? Don't leave the room, don't even get out of bed, alright?"

"Alright," I agreed. I couldn't think of a reason to leave.

"You promise?" She insisted, holding my hand now as well as my wrist. I looked down at our intwined hands. Hers was bigger than mine. Her nails were cleaner too.

"Alright," I agreed again. For lack of another word.

I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. If I was supposed to be doing anything at all.

What was my purpose for being here? For existing?

I still didn't know. I wonder if she did. If she had a purpose that she understood, a reason for doing the things she did.

As I stared at her, she stared at me. However, eventually, she stood. I made no move to slip my hand away from hers, and she laid the limp thing on the bed beside me. Her hand came up to cup my cheek briefly, patting it softly. Then she turned and she left the room.

She wasn't quite running, but she was moving rather quickly. Her shoes clip-clapped on the tile floor for a while after she'd left my field of vision. Then, I couldn't see or hear her anymore. But the warmth of her hand lingered between my fingers and on my cheek, and the room felt colder for its absence.

She had told me to stay, I realized, but she had not said she would be coming back. I wondered if she would, or if someone else would come back. It had been…interesting to see another living creature, especially one capable of communicating with me.

If she didn't, I wondered how long I was supposed to stay here.

My body desired life. I knew that now. And there were certain things involved in maintaining a living state that I would need to attend to, such as eating and drinking, at least in a few days. I supposed I could wait that long.

She had not put a time limit on my promise, after all.

 _The shinobi who brought you in_ , she had said. That meant there had been someone out there in the forest after all. Perhaps watching me, perhaps just stumbling upon me at the bottom of the cliff.

I knew what a shinobi was. Shinobi, ninja, kunoichi. Trained in martial and special ninja arts. I didn't quite know why there was a shinobi there, or why they had brought me here. Did shinobi usually help injured people? Was that part of their existence as shinobi?

There was a clip-clap. The woman's shoes, possibly, or a similar person wearing similar shoes. She had returned rather quickly. It was probably good that I didn't have to wait here for a few days, as there was pain associated with hunger and thirst that I didn't particularly want to endure.

I looked expectantly at the door. It was the woman from before, walking at a more sedate pace, hands clasped tightly before her. Trailing behind her were two men, one tall with blond hair and a green vest, and another that was short and wearing a full body robe and a hat. The symbol for "fire" was emblazoned on it.

They stood at the door for a moment, the older man and the younger man both holding each other's gazes, then glancing back at me for a moment, then back to each other. They weren't as open as the woman had been. Their faces were unreadable, blank of all expression.

Could I [ inspect ] them?

 **Yamanaka Kouji LV ?, Leaf General Hospital psychologist onsite.**

Huh. It had worked. Though, as with my name and gender, the man's level was unknowable. I wondered why.

The other one was **Sarutobi Hiruzen LV ?, Sitting Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.**

 **Using [Inspect] has caused its level to rise to 2!**

Both belonged to this Konoha. Was that where I was? Or was it the name of an organization? And the level of my skill had risen. That was probably a good thing. I was supposed to raise the levels of things, according to the matrix.

The blond man finally approached my bedside and sat gently at the very edge, careful not to touch me. I was…grateful for his caution. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, if he touched me. He was much bigger than the woman, and he was not as cheerful. I didn't know how I would react. Or if I would care, once it had been done.

He hunched so his eyes were level with mine. They were a piercing blue. I found that I couldn't look away from them.

 **Your willpower wasn't high enough to deflect Yamanaka Kouji's mental probe.**

Mental probe? What was that? How odd.

He spoke.

"What's your name?"

There wasn't a reason not to answer though I had no answer to give him. "I don't know."

He frowned slightly.

"How old are you?"

"I believe," I began, trying to recall the status disk, "I'm eight years old, though I may be wrong."

"Where are you from?"

I shook my head, eyes glued to his. "I don't know."

"Do you remember the cliff?"

I nodded yes.

"Were you upset when you jumped off it?"

I shook my head.

"Did someone tell you to do it?"

I shook my head.

"Do you remember how you wound up there?"

I shook my head again.

Had this body suddenly appeared there? Had I popped from that white space to that place? Or had I been somewhere else before and only woken, a new person, in the clearing? There was no way to tell. I had no definite answer for him.

He nodded, unperturbed.

"Did you use some sort of skill to recover so quickly from your injuries?"

I blinked. A Skill? It hadn't been a skill. I didn't know how it happened, but my health returned to nominal status after a while. I shrugged and shook my head.

He made a noise somewhere deep in his throat and turned away, shaking his head. I felt released, somehow. My body relaxed and I found I could move my eyes again. I turned them to look towards the Hokage as the blond man joined him by the door once again.

The blond man bent to speak to the one in the robe. They went back and forth as the minutes dragged by. I watched their lips, wondering if I could use some skill like Inspect to understand what they were saying.

 **New Skill! [Lipreading] created. A passive skill, this is always active.**

Huh.

"…short term memory…a dream," the man was saying. I found that I couldn't catch every word. Some of the mouth shapes weren't easy to identify, especially when he was whispering. He continued. "…dark void…and a white room…then, waking up…falling. Pain, but no fear. It could…strange."

 **[Lipreading] increases to Level 2!**

The robed man nodded sedately. He reached behind his back and retrieved a long, ornate pipe, holding it delicately between his fingers as though considering its fine make. He came forward to my bedside but didn't sit as the blond man had done. He was much smaller, though, and was almost at eye level with me.

"Can you tell me what led to your injuries, young one?" The old man asked. He was asking a question he knew the answer to, I suspected based on the evidence, but that was fine. I also knew the answer and I could tell it.

I nodded. "I stepped off the cliff. My injuries were caused by impact with the dry riverbed."

He hummed, eyes searching my face. He didn't lock my gaze to his like the blond man, but I felt held in a different way. He had a presence that drew me in. I didn't have the willpower or the need to look away.

"Take me through it," the old man said. "Tell me the thoughts that led up to your decision to step off the cliff."

I thought for a moment.

"I didn't know," I began. Then, I paused, and began again: "No, I _don't_ know where I come from, or what I am, or if I am alive, or what is real."

A noise drew my eyes. The woman had gasped and brought a hand to her mouth. The blond man's eyes were narrow. But the old man's face remained impassive, and yet it was…open, as well. Relaxed, maybe? I couldn't exactly qualify it. It was hard to understand.

"I did know," I continued, "that the drop-off was unstable, and the river bed was dry, and that a fall from that height would likely kill me. I wondered," here, too, I paused, considering what I wanted to say, "I wondered if it would hurt. If I was alive, wouldn't it hurt? Would it hurt if it wasn't real?"

The man chewed thoughtfully on his pipe. It was not lit.

I shrugged. My body had discovered its liveliness, but perhaps this body was not truly me. Simply a vessel I existed within for now. "I suppose my empirical evidence isn't enough to draw a conclusion."

"Did it hurt?" He asked easily, holding my gaze.

"Yes it did," I responded. "More than anything I've ever felt before."

I'd never felt anything like it before but it was still the truth.

"Will you trust an old man's experience, child?"

I considered. It was likely that someone of his considerable years had far more experience than me. Though, it was likely that everyone had more experience than me. I had come into existence not a day ago.

"I will," I told him.

"In my experience," he said slowly, "what is inflicted on one's senses is always real, whether it exists or not. The pain we feel is not what makes us human beings, the fact that we are human beings means that we feel. And human beings, if they feel, are alive."

He paused for a moment. Then eyed me with a sharp gaze. "Do you understand?"

"I comprehend your words," I informed him, "but not their meaning. Are these all mutually inclusive things?"

He chuckled. "Indeed, it sounds strange and confusing. But it is experience that will show you the truth of it. That's why asked you to take me at my word."

I shrugged. I had said I would trust his experience. So I would. I had no reason to doubt that he knew what he was saying, even if I didn't understand.

The man glanced around. Spotting a chair in the corner, he took it and dragged it to my bedside. He settled into it like his bones ached, gratefully and heavily. "Do you have any clue as to what your name _might_ be? A memory, or a sound? A meaning?"

I shrugged and shook my head.

He considered, eyes rolling up to the ceiling. I looked up, but there was nothing there.

"Forgive me if this is sudden," he said, "but do you have any inclinations towards a particular name? It is difficult to address someone without knowing their name," he said. "Mine is Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the man behind me is Yamanaka Kouji. The woman is Mori Kanae. Do you like any of those?"

I blinked.

"I could give you a name I like, if you prefer, or allow you to choose from a book of names."

I considered. There was something. The game kept saying it, addressing me with it.

"You," I said. It came out differently than I would say it, were I speaking with them. It was a different sound when I was speaking with them and there were several ways to say it, but there was only one to say in this form. It was…another language, perhaps?

I think I knew several languages. But I didn't know how to identify them, or speak them to myself. There was only interaction.

I could only speak his language, with him. And the game's language, with it.

What was my language, I wondered.

"Yuu?" His intonation swung up, as if asking for confirmation. The way he said it, I knew it wasn't the same thing. But it still…still fit. "Is there a reason?"

"In hiragana," I specified, drawing on his unwitting suggestion. I shrugged. "It fits."

He hummed again. There was a slight smile on his face.

"Alright, then," he chuckled. "You're a good girl, Yuu-kun, thank you for answering our questions truthfully."

"Is that what I am?" I asked. A girl…that meant a female. Perhaps this word was the one missing from the Status Menu. Strangely, it was a concept I knew but was having difficulty integrating. What was a _girl_? Because there were so many definitions and characteristics embedded within me.

Was this an answer to one of my questions?

He gave me a look. "Pardon?"

"A girl," I qualified my question. "Am I a girl?"

"Uhm, well," he coughed into his fist. "There are certain…characteristics that can be defined as female. And you carry those," he glanced back at the woman, as if unsure. She nodded hurriedly.

"So I am?" I confirmed.

"Some find that their characteristics don't match what they understand of their identities," he continued. His face was less composed than it had been a moment before. "I believe it is within yourself to find the answer to your question, dear. We would say that you are female, but you are allowed to be more, or less, or different, if you want."

I didn't quite understand, but that didn't contradict the status menu, and in fact fit with the display. Perhaps I had to do something to fill in the gap? Would Leveling help?

"What else can I be?" I asked.

"Some feel that they are men or women, despite their bodies. Some feel that they are only half or part of those things and that the rest is something else. Some feel as though they have no gender at all."

"That's…interesting," I diagnosed. "I…will consider it."

"There is something else I would ask you to consider, Yuu-kun."

I blinked at him.

"You have a very curious ability, one we've never seen before. When you were brought in, the damage was diagnosed as fatal. Though we attempted to operate, there wasn't much hope for success. The bones were reset, save for those that were shattered, but the bleeding couldn't be staunched. However, your wounds began to heal themselves. In approximately four hours, you were back to nearly perfect constitution."

He stared into my eyes. I stared back. It was interesting to hear of what took place during my resting time, but I wondered why he felt the need to share it. I couldn't see a point.

"Such rapid regeneration is not commonplace at all. Konoha is a community that respects rare abilities and those who hold them. If you were not averse, our village would be willing to offer you a home and an education, so that you may pursue a path in life."

I blinked. "Just because I heal quickly?"

He smiled at me. "Konoha also likes to extend a hand to those who need assistance. Especially children who have lost their way and, it appears, their memories."

I hadn't lost anything, I thought, I remembered. I remembered _becoming_. Yet…

From his point of view, it would look as though I had eight years of missing memories. Perhaps he was right—this body, I had no idea where it had come from. Whether it had been generated by the matrix, or if it was merely commandeered. The memories that could have been there and maybe should have been, were not. They were lost if they had existed at all.

I shrugged. "Alright."

I didn't have anywhere else I wanted to go. I could use my abilities here as easily as any place. The only thing I could think to do was follow what the matrix said to do.

"If I may be so bold as to offer a suggestion," he said, rising to his feet with, it seemed, a little difficulty. "I would recommend joining the Academy and learning to become a shinobi. They are respected members of society and there are numerous benefits. You're a bright youth, as well. I think you will do well in the Academy."

 **A [Quest] has been received! The Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves would like you to become a ninja! Reward: forehead protector, ninja status, greater respect and trust from Hiruzen Sarutobi! +25000 EXP Would you like to accept? Y/N?**

A quest? That was new. I could win prizes, it seemed, if I completed it. Experience points were supposed to help me Level Up. It couldn't hurt to try it.

[ Yes ] I thought, as I nodded my head. "I accept."

He smiled at me. The blond man came forward and held something out. It was a dull brass key and an envelope.

"This is a house key and an allowance," he explained. "Academy students without guardians are allowed a small stipend to live off of as they complete their studies. We'll take care of the paperwork in a bit, but let me say welcome to the village, Yuu-chan."

 **Congratulations! You've earned the titles [Academy Student] and [One of the Leaves]. You've earned +50 EXP!**

It seemed they expected me to take their offer. It made sense; there wasn't a reason for me to refuse. I didn't have anywhere else to go. I didn't know anything about the world. Why would I say no?

The woman, Mori Kanae, cleared her throat loudly. The Hokage and Yamanaka Kouji turned to look at her.

"Yuu-chan is free to leave with the permission of Kouji-san, for now. Her injuries are no longer an issue, as Hokage-sama noted. I will need both of your signatures to allow her to exit the building," she said, bowing slightly.

"Ah, paperwork is never done," the old man chuckled. Kanae laughed. Why?

"Please follow me," she said, turning to leave. Kouji smiled at me, placing the key and envelope in my outstretched hand before following his companions out the door.

"I'll be right back, Yuu-chan, and I'll take you to your new place and get you started on the paperwork!"

I nodded absently, but my attention was on the key.

 **You've received a House Key! Important items like this can be carried in your Inventory for safe keeping. You can access your inventory through the [Tools Menu].**

Thinking [ Tools Menu ] caused a sheet of light to appear before my eyes, a box display divided in half. On one side was an image of my body with labels connecting to what I was wearing. The paper-thin material was labelled a "Hospital Gown". Below the name, the matrix listed a Resistance score, 1, and gave a description: **A cheap gown made for hospital patients. Offers little protection.**

On the other side of the box were numerous, smaller empty boxes, all lined up in rows and stacked on top of each other.

 **Place item in a free space!**

I wondered, for a moment, how to do that. The sheet of light existed in my eyes. I could focus on the things beyond it and I could see them, though my brain seemed to register both the sheet and the objects behind it as opaque and unobstructed. If the sheet existed only within my head, how could I place something four dimensional inside it?

Eventually, I had to conclude that it was something I wouldn't be able to understand, and I decided to give it a try anyway. I pushed the key towards the first empty box. As expected, it passed through the air with little trouble. When it coincided with the sheet of light in my vision, I felt resistance, like I was pushing the key through some sort of gel. The image of the sheet rippled. No, the air behind the sheet was rippling. No, If I concentrated, I could see that both the sheet and the air were being distorted around the key. The key began to disappear.

Instead of passing through the boxes, as I had expected, the key was being pushed into it. Losing its four dimensional status and collapsing to two-dimensional state within the empty cell. My fingers pressed in as well, pushing the key the last bit of the way. There was a cool sliminess around the tip of my fingers. I could press my hand in more, I realized, but I had no reason to. I let go of the key and withdrew my hand. Despite the liquid feel, it came out clean and dry. The key, once a real object, was now just an image inside the once empty cell in a box that existed only in my mind.

Or, maybe, in the matrix?

 **You can retrieve items from your Inventory at any time. Simply tap the cell you wish to access and reach in!**

 **An item can be accessed on its own via the short-command [Inventory: Item Name] for access to weaponry during battle. Similarly the short-command [Restock: Item Name] will send an item back to the inventory directly.**

There was a number at the top of the stack of, now almost, empty boxes. 299/300. 300 empty spaces? The key had subtracted one. So it could hold up to 300 items.

I tapped the image of the key. The tap sent a ripple through the screen. I reached back in the light, sliding my whole hand through it. The slickness was strange, and I felt there was at once infinite space and no space at all. My hand bumped something solid and a wrapped my hand around it, withdrawing the dull brass house key.

How useful. I pushed it back into the inventory.

"[ Inventory: House Key ]" I chanted. A strange ripple passed over the skin of my palm. I looked down at my hand to discover that the key had nestled itself in my grip.

After a few rounds of calling the key and then restocking it, I decided that I didn't understand the mechanics behind this process at all. With Restock, a ripple would appear to go through the key, like it was a wave in the ocean, and it would… _phase_ out of existence. Calling it produced the same effect, only backwards.

I set the key aside on the table and opened up the envelope.

It was full of green paper bills. Money, I realized, and there was a map of what I presumed was the village I now lived in.

 **Congratulations! You've received a [Map of the Village Hidden in the Leaves]! Place this item in your [Tool Menu]!**

Obligingly, I did so. It didn't appear in one of the empty cells. Rather, a small version of the map popped up next to the image of my body.

 **Maps are special items that can be converted to data and accessed without a physical copy. The data can be viewed at any time by entering the command [View Map].**

[ View Map ] I thought, curiously. Another plane opened up before the Tool Menu, showing the open map. It was a a mess of grey and green, with zigzagging streets, many without names, and a mass of buildings. Only some were labelled, like the Hokage Tower and the Academy. Whole swaths of buildings fell under labels, like Business District or Housing. A small blip on the map, a little red dot, within the Housing section was named "Your Residence".

I blinked the map away. The Tool Menu took its place. I pressed the money into the screen. Again, none of the cells showed a stack of bills. Instead, a single bill appeared below the map and a number appeared beside it. 50,000 R.

Was that how much money I had?

How useful, it could count it for me.

A thought struck me.

Was the physical map now inaccessible?

I tapped the image of the map, but it only brought up the Map window. I blinked it away.

Looking down at my hand I whispered, "[ Restock: Map of the Village Hidden in the Leaves ]."

 **Unable to locate item.**

I blinked.

The matrix had said that the map had been converted to data. Had it…destroyed the physical copy to gain the data?

I tried to call the money I had placed in the screen, but no combination of words or phrasings triggered the release of any amount. I tapped the bill icon and a screen popped up with an up arrow and a down arrow beside the symbols 0 R. Pressing the arrows brought the number up or down and tapping it again dislodged the amount I'd chosen.

I tried to Restock the money with the short-commands but ran into the same problem I'd had calling it.

Eventually, I placed the money back in the screen manually and dismissed the whole affair.

So, certain items could be placed in the cells and taken out, either manually or with short-commands. But some items, like maps or money, operated differently and either couldn't be recalled at all or had to be taken out directly.

It was more complex than it had originally appeared. I would have to be careful not to rely entirely on the descriptions the matrix gave; they were sometimes incomplete.

 **You've been exercising your mind! +1 Intelligence!**

I blinked. Huh?

"Alright Yuu-chan!" Kouji stood at the door, sans the other two people but carrying a thick binder. "Let's get you set up at your new place and get cracking on this paperwork, okay?"

Huh.

 ** _→ PAUSE_**

 **Level 1, Name: Yuu, Age: 8, Gender: ?, Status: Healthy.**

 **Academy Student**

 **Character 1**

 **Strength 23**

 **Precision 10**

 **Willpower 18**

 **Intelligence 29**


	3. Story Mode

**_→ PLAY_**

Two hours later found me seated _seiza,_ with my legs folded under me, filling in boxes with characters under Kouji's watchful eye. Occasionally, he pointed something out to explain in depth, or answered my questions about what a certain line meant. For the most part, however, Kouji was busy scribbling away at his own set of papers. There was, apparently, an immense amount of paperwork involved in acquiring the lease to an apartment, attaining citizenship in a country, and filing for student status at the Academy.

According to Kouji, this was all very standard. It wasn't unusual for people to ask for villager status or want to join the Academy, even for those who had no family registers. That just added five pages. If I had been a truly _odd_ case, it would take weeks to get through all the paperwork.

The work was mostly mindless, merely facts about myself that I could recall or, more often, a "not applicable" written in. Kouji signed everything that had to have that answer, officiating that it had been cleared with an administrative assistant. Mostly, that was what we did: writing "not applicable" and signing our names.

At some point during the personality test, in which I answered seemingly random questions by bubbling in my varying agreement or disagreement with them, Kouji stretched his hands high above his head with a long sigh. I glanced at him.

He smiled at me. "How about I go pick up some groceries for you, since you're gonna be working for a while?"

I shrugged. He could do as he liked.

He jumped to his feet. "Don't worry about the money, you save what you've got for later! Anything I buy gets covered by the mission fund, but you're gonna have to budget."

He grinned at me and winked one eye. I blinked.

He stared at me for a bit, chuckled in a forced manner, and then made his way to the door.

"I'll be right back! Don't stop working!"

Then he was gone.

Yamanaka Kouji was a strange man, I thought. Or perhaps, he was a normal man and it was I who was the strange one. He did many things I did not understand. He seemed to feel a compulsion to keep up a constant running commentary on everything. He would ask me questions that didn't have answers, and then continue before I could even answer in the first place.

He had taken me on a winding path through the village, stopping to chat with various people at various stores or stands. As they had walked, I couldn't help but marvel at the village itself. In the roads, there were hundreds of people milling about, acquiring supplies or speaking to one another, flitting through the streets without a moment's pause. Some of them greeted Kouji or nodded at us.

The buildings rose up to the sky, masses of brick or cement or wood. Some were built right into massive trees, or in the hollows between their roots. Others were stalwart structures rising right from the ground. I was reminded of the forest that had surrounded my clearing. It was a line of trees.

This place was full of living creatures, and I was almost certain they were all sapient beings like myself. And they were all alive.

The Hokage had said I was too. I didn't disbelieve it. I wasn't sure how to make myself believe it. Was believing merely not disregarding or was it something else entirely?

As he had answered my questions so far, I had posed this to Yamanaka Kouji as well.

He had given me a strange look. _"I…I'm not sure Yuu-chan. It's probably more than that, don't you think? Believing something in your gut is different from knowing something with your head!"_

How can my gut believe something? My thought processes are the chemical and electrical signals inside my brain. That's what I thought I had known, at least. Perhaps there was more to it than that. As with the matrix's messages, there seemed to be nuances to language and knowledge that weren't included in my pre-existing knowledge.

 _"And it's not 'Yamanaka Kouji',"_ he had corrected me gently, with a pat to my head. _"When you address someone, it's rude not to give them a honorific. And you definitely don't need to use my full name. Just say 'Kouji-san'."_

Honorifics. Titles applied to names in regards to the relationship between the addresser and the addressed. It seemed a tool for defining your relationship with someone else. I wasn't sure how to do that.

 _"Kouji-san,"_ I had obliged. _"I know what honorifics are. How do I choose which to use?"_

 _"It's kinda complex. There's a lot of 'em. For now, 'san' is a good ending for most people older than you. You can use 'kun' or 'chan' with kids younger than you. There's probably some etiquette books available if you really want to know more. There's books on pretty much everything!"_

We had walked on in some silence before Kouji said, _"You know, I probably learned by watching other people. Maybe just watch others and see what they do?"_

That sounded fair. If it was a societal convention, doing as everyone else did was necessarily following the convention. But 'books' was intriguing. A source of knowledge that I could access rather easily at the library or a bookstore, Kouji had explained. That would be very useful.

Through smaller and smaller alleys we had trudged until we came to a plain gray door, nestled inconspicuously in a plain gray wall in an alley so small I had had to walk behind Kouji, rather than at his side. I likely would not have noticed it overmuch had he not stopped and pointed out the fading number plate.

"112" was the designation of my new living space.

It was a space defined by absence, lines of vacuum flowing around a few bare features. The floor was wooden and there were walls that blocked off other spaces within, encapsulating each for a defined use of its own. Compartmentalization. The entryway and the 'living' room, as Kouji dubbed it, blended seamlessly. A low wooden table on top of a red diamond rug, set off to the side of the doorway, was the defining element. The only element.

The entryway continued into a hallway which stopped at the end of the apartment. Little spaces were set aside at either side of the hall, blocked off with walls and doors. These doors didn't require keys to access them, though the both the bathroom door and the bedroom door could lock from the inside. The kitchen, its entrance opposite the living room, had no door.

Within each room were appliances that designated the purpose of the space, as the table designated the living room. The bedroom had a mattress in a black box, shoved against the wall, a desk, and a closet space hidden behind a sliding door. The toilet was set off from the bedroom next to the closet by another door. The bathroom had a small, square tub, and a hose and nozzle with a little bench set in from of it for cleaning.

The kitchen had a refrigerator-freezer, a stovetop-oven, and a sink

I knew most of the operations of all of these devices. I was satisfied that my needs had been met by them. I was not entirely sure _how_ to cook, however, though I knew I would be able to do that on the stove or in the oven. Perhaps there were also books that mentioned these things through which I could acquire that knowledge?

If so, these books would become very useful for me.

Kouji had been sorry about the lack of windows and suggested that I could prop the door open if I wanted fresh air. Then, he had paused, considering, and said that maybe that was not such a good idea and advised me to keep my door locked at all times until I was confident in my ability to defend myself.

That seemed like a reasonable instruction.

I moved from my place at the table and locked the door behind Kouji. He could alert me to his presence when he returned and I would allow him back in.

It would be several hours before Kouji returned, laden with boxes and bags of paper and plastic. In the meantime, I had moved on from the personality quiz and completed the rest of the forms. These included a test, of sorts, of my general knowledge in arithmetic, history, and science. I had no knowledge of history, so I left these blank, but the science and mathematics questions were within my ability to answer.

 **Congratulations on completing your paperwork! +25 EXP**

The tasks that gave me experience points seemed random to me. Were they things that advanced my position in the game, such as this paperwork that would make me a citizen of this nation and a student at the Academy? Or perhaps it mattered because I spent a significant amount of time and effort on it.

Kouji stacked his purchases by the door and joined me at the table to look over the papers.

He signed a few things. Asked for clarification on some of my answers, which I dutifully wrote in.

He stroked his chin, drawing my attention to the stubble that was growing there. "Not bad, Yuu-chan. Your handwriting is immaculate, like type or something. Hey, maybe you were a noble, huh?"

I looked at him blankly.

The smile twitched like it was struggling to remain in shape.

"Well, maybe not."

I shrugged.

"What now?" I questioned.

"Now," he said, standing with a grunt of effort, "I'll take all these papers down to their appropriate offices and get you entered into the system. You can do whatever you'd like to do, Yuu-chan. The Academy opens at eight on Monday, alright? That's in two days. You should be okay to go by then."

I nodded to show that I had understood. Be at the Academy by eight in the morning on Monday.

But what would I do in the meantime?

I posed this question to Kouji and he tapped his chin, stretching out the word, "We-ell."

I waited.

"You could do some exploring! Familiarize yourself with the landscape, and maybe buy some stuff if I forgot anything. Maybe meet kids your age and make some friends!"

Friend? A person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, differing from that held between family members and romantic or sexual partners. I had no experience with any of these types of bonds. I didn't know what it meant to have a "bond" with someone. It was a concept so abstract that even the definition did me little good.

"How does one make 'friends'?" I inquired.

Kouji burst out laughing. I didn't know why.

"Ah, ha, well? It's kinda something natural. You get to know someone, their likes and dislikes, and you find that you want to spend time with them and they want to spend time with you. When you enjoy spending time with someone, that's how you know you're friends!"

Enjoy spending time with someone. I wasn't sure I knew what that meant either. Another abstract concept like death or fear. Perhaps, like these, it was something I had to experience to understand it.

I stared at the table, contemplating this new directive. Make friends. Or rather, learn how to enjoy spending time with someone. Then make friends through that action. Or maybe even, learn to 'enjoy' something.

"Well, I've got to report in, Yuu-chan, and take your paperwork to the appropriate offices. It's getting kinda late, so why don't you set up the stuff I got you where you want it and you can go out and explore the world tomorrow, okay?"

I nodded. That sounded reasonable.

He gathered the papers into the folder and made his way to the door.

"If you have any problems, swing by the hospital and ask for me or Kanae okay? You remember her, the doctor who got me and Hokage-sama?"

I nodded. So Mori Kanae was a doctor. That cleared up the question I had had before.

"Alright, good luck, Yuu-chan! Someone will stop by to check up on you, probably tomorrow or the next day. There will be appointments and things to work out, of course, but for right now! Just enjoy yourself, okay? See you!"

With that, Kouji closed the door, leaving me to the enclosed space that was now my home.

I had to enjoy _myself_ too?

How did I do _that_?

 ** _→ CUTSCENE_**

"Ah, thank you for joining us, Kouji-kun," the Hokage greeted him as he entered the office.

Kanae, one of the medic-nin assigned to Yuu's case, was already standing in front of the desk and spreading several folders out on it. He recognized them as the ones they'd been filling in since the strange child had been brought into the hospital, unconscious, broken and bleeding. He had only been brought in on the case when it seemed like Yuu would recover from her injuries but Kanae had been present when the girl was delivered by an on-duty ANBU agent.

"How did your time with Yuu strike you?" He didn't sound at all like he was asking. In fact, it was the same voice he used when he gave missions. Suddenly, Kouji felt like he was thirteen years old again, squirming anxiously next to his genin teammates.

He stood a little straighter, and gave his report: "Yuu is literate, able to write and read at a level I would say is higher than her age suggests. Her handwriting is neat and precise, suggesting that she was drilled in its form as well as intense vocabulary study. She may also be of a higher intellect than we originally suspected; though she didn't answer any of the history questions, or questions concerning shinobi arts, she _did_ answer the science and math questions. And scored perfectly on all of them."

The Hokage's eyebrows lifted in surprise and he blew a smoke ring from his pipe. "Indeed. Perhaps a young genius. And yet, despite her ability, not a Clan child."

Kouji nodded. "It suggests that she was well schooled. I suggested to her that she may have been a noble and she experienced no recollection, however that may not preclude anything."

He tried not to look too eager.

"There haven't been any missing persons reported from the daimyo's court," the Hokage mused. "But there may be some wealthy merchant out there missing a child. We have only had them for a day."

It would only be too easy if they'd _already_ received a request to locate a child matching Yuu's description, wouldn't it? Kouji sighed.

And what a description it was. Short, colorless hair and clear silver-white eyes. If she had the typical small pupil size, he'd almost say they resembled the byakugan. She was also uncomfortably pale. Lying in the blue hospital sheets she had seemed washed out, like someone had forgotten to fill in the lines with color.

"What is your opinion of her mental condition, Kouji?"

Kouji shifted. Here's the rub. "Amnesia may be too light a word for it. Even with severe cases, I can usually pull out a snippet or two from before the block. With so complete a wipe, I would usually say there was a jutsu responsible, but there wasn't any evidence of mental tampering, either. If this is self-inflicted, as in the case of trauma, it could be evidence of an exceptionally powerful mind."

"It could also be caused by brain damage," Kanae broke in. "My team has been kicking around the idea that Yuu's ability has caused so complete a regeneration that we wouldn't be able to detect previous injuries. There isn't even any scar tissue anywhere on her body, sir, even the bones."

"Whatever the case," Kouji replied, "it's unsettling that there is _no memory_ of anything at all before her dream of that infinite void. The white room may be a recollection of confinement, but I doubt it was a true memory—being swallowed up like that is a typical dream image, indicative more of a primal fear of being consumed."

"In the case of physical damage, we may have no recourse. Even our fabled T&I can do nothing if the victim themself doesn't remember anything," the Hokage assessed. "However, if the completeness of the block implies trauma, as Kouji suggests, it is in our power to tease those memories out. Regular appointments with you, Kouji, or someone else you recommend may be in order."

Kouji nodded. For now, it would be best if he stayed with her case. Common sense dictated that she would be more comfortable with a familiar face. Although given how she had reacted throughout their time together, Kouji wouldn't be surprised if she didn't care one way or another _who_ was asking the questions.

"She's very strange, as a person, sir," Kouji said haltingly, hoping he wasn't speaking out of turn.

The Hokage gestured for him to continue.

"Her emotions seem…muted. She's very analytical. The only truly strong emotion I could find in her was fear, and only that which she felt when she was dying," Kouji glanced at Kanae, who was watching him thoughtfully. "It's almost like trying to read an Aburame. Except, even worse. It isn't that she is controlling her emotions. It's that she's not feeling them. Or at least, not in a typical way."

There was a serious, steely glint in his leader's eye. An antisocial shinobi was hardly an encouraging thought. Emotionless might have been preferred by _some_ elements of the military complex, but the greater part of Konoha acknowledged the danger inherent in a powerful killing mission without any _empathy_.

"Do you expect this will be a problem?"

"Not really, sir. She doesn't strike me as antisocial or dangerous. There wasn't even much of a sense of self identity, in fact. It's more likely that she'll be very impressionable. It would be a good idea to monitor her activities, even just to make sure she's not picking up bad habits from…unseemly sources."

The Hokage nodded.

Then, his eyes slid to Kanae and the medic nin stood tall to give her report as well.

"No evidence of malicious genjutsu, ninjutsu, or seals of any kind. The toxicology report isn't in yet, but preliminary examinations reveal some…strange things."

"Hm?" The Hokage raised an eyebrow. "In what way?"

"Well, typical hair samples and enamel scrapings would have a record of what sort of pharmaceuticals a person had ingested. They can also be a record of diet and mineral availability in the environment," Kanae explained. "We usually check to see if we can pinpoint an origin for amnesiac patients. We typically get something to work with: whether they lived in a city, or in a rural area, whether they lived on the coast or in a desert or a forest."

The Hokage nodded. "So what was strange about Yuu-chan's record?"

"There…wasn't one," Kanae said hesitantly, "uh, sir. At least, not one we could identify. At first glance, I'd say she had a seafood diet, but aspects of the tests show that she was only eating plants. These are combinations we've never seen before. Whatever she was eating or taking before this, it was nothing we've encountered before."

Kanae struggled. "It's almost like these are just random levels, sir, but it's not possible. She's eight years old, she has to have been eating _something_."

"So even her body has no answers to offer us. Could it be that her regeneration ability is corrupting the results somehow?"

"That might be possible, sir," Kanae admitted. "We did consider that this could be what happens when her body heals itself. Whatever this bloodline limit is, however, we've never seen anything like it."

There were quick healers, of course. Massive amounts of chakra could invigorate the immune system and even encourage the multiplication and longevity of cells. The young jinchuriki Uzumaki Naruto exemplified that, and there were jounin that could get in and out of the hospital in a few days with injuries that would keep genin down for weeks.

But _four hours_? For massive internal hemorrhaging and shattered bones? That was a level that not even their best healers could boast.

Not to mention that they couldn't figure out how it was _happening_. The chakra in Yuu's body seemed to be related to the healing somehow, but not in the manner of a medical jutsu or a typical rush of energy to an affected area. Her cells were also slightly different in subtle ways from the average citizen.

Kouji sighed. This was why he didn't like working with bloodlines. They were leagues ahead of the understanding of modern medicine, and they mutated rapidly (at least, in the context of human mutation). There was evidence of chakra even restructuring DNA on the fly, which was mind-boggling and bizarre and totally impossible, and yet, there it was.

"We may not have seen the extent of these strange abilities, if her foreignness is anything to go by," the Hokage said gravely, voicing Kouji's thoughts. "It will be an advantage to the village if we can engender their trust and service."

Even if she failed out of the Academy (which Kouji felt was incredibly unlikely given how goddamn _smart_ she was), just having Yuu's bloodline in the village with the possibility of study and even _continuation_ was incredible.

"I'll have her record flagged," the God of Shinobi decided, "and send out a general missive for active duty shinobi to keep an eye out for her. Code Orange."

Code Orange, hilariously enough, did _not_ come from the Orange-suited menace that was the jinchuriki, no matter how much the chunin liked to joke about it. It was an alert category that denoted flight risks, psychologically delicate shinobi, and the like, and usually implied that the subject was more likely to be a harm to _themselves_ than to anyone else. It was a bit of a general warning, a message to everyone that this person could be a problem. And, sometimes, a suggestion to watch out for their safety. It's why Uzumaki was the highest priority flag.

"I suggest a period of close monitoring, at least for a few days," Kanae added his suggestion. "I'm not particularly worried about her being a security breach, honestly, but I am a little concerned she may not adjust well. She is apparently intellectually advanced, but, well. A high IQ definitely doesn't equate a high EQ."

And as much as he would like to say otherwise, even Konoha had bad people in it that would take advantage of a little girl all alone in the world. She was naturally curious and she seemed to lack a strong survival instinct. Who knew what that meant for her assimilation.

"I was going to suggest the same thing," Kouji affirmed. "I'm worried that she may attempt to 'test' reality again. She appeared to accept your explanation, Hokage-sama, but if she enters a dissociative state again, I don't want her to be moving around freely without anyone there to stop her from hurting herself."

Code Orange was only a general 'heads-up, keep an eye out', after all. She would need some specialized attention for a bit.

The Hokage smiled benignly. "I'm so glad you both have volunteered! I'll register this as a D-rank mission. Please look after Yuu-chan carefully; they could grow to be important to our village."

Kouji gulped and Kanae went ram-rod straight. Neither voiced their internal groaning.

"Yes, sir."

 ** _→ PAUSE_**

 **Level 1, Name: Yuu, Age: 8, Gender: ?, Status: Healthy.**

 **Academy Student**

 **Character 1**

 **Strength 23**

 **Precision 10**

 **Willpower 18**

 **Intelligence 29**

 **Skills**

 **Inspect 2**

 **Lipreading 2**

 **Active Quests**

 **Become a ninja of the Leaf!**

 **[It's finally summer thank god.]**


	4. Level Up

**_PLAY_**

Being alone after my encounters with the Hokage and the doctor and Kouji and countless others was a strange experience. There was no continuous chatter. I didn't need to speak as there was no one with which to communicate. Without Kouji's presence, I found that I could hear my own steady breathing.

I called up the memory of my stuttered gasps and sobbing just hours before. I examined it, remembering the sensations that had assaulted me with a clarity I couldn't achieve under their influence. My body felt whole and firm and _real_. I had the same capacity for movement and action that those I'd encountered had. Though my existence may be unusual by most measures, I decided that there was sufficient data to say that I was alive—tentatively.

I nodded, locking the conclusion into my world view until further evidence refuted it.

Assured of my own existence, I turned to lock the door as Kouji had instructed. Then, I turned to face the pile of packages he had purchased. My cursory glance over it when he had first returned hadn't impressed upon me the sheer volume of material now littering the entryway.

My entryway. I was in fact the tenant of this apartment now, or at least, I would be soon. The property still belonged to the landlord but I was allowed to decorate the space however I wished, according to the terms of the lease I had signed.

Kouji had seemed a little startled when I had begun reading the stack of papers he'd asked me to sign. However, when I asked if my actions were incorrect, he had simply smiled and congratulated me on being sensible.

I wasn't quite sure why reading a stack of papers was a sensible thing to do. It was good to know the terms of my stay in this space. But I hadn't chosen to read it out of wisdom, as he implied. I simply read everything he had handed me, as he had asked me to do.

Kouji had been a bewildering collection of information and directives. He didn't seem to expect me to follow his commandments 'to the letter'. He spoke as often to himself as he spoke to me. I didn't understand why it was necessary to voice his thoughts as though he couldn't perceive them if they were not spoken. Perhaps he wanted me to be aware of his thoughts.

More often than not, he didn't share anything I understood, so I wasn't entirely convinced of that.

I contemplated his last confusing remark. I _understood_ the concept of enjoyment. It was an emotional state, one that continued for the duration of some act or moment. I knew the particulars of its definition but it brought me no closer to accessing this emotional state. I was unsure of my ability to experience it.

Thinking of how he had described the process of making friends, I tried to imagine myself in that situation. It wouldn't be particularly hard to ask someone about their personal preferences. The problem arose when I had to assess their accordance with my own and determine the value of a relationship with them; I had very few preferences.

I could, hesitantly, say that I liked being alive. Though perhaps it was more accurate to say that I didn't like the pain associated with death. If I had experimented with a painless method of ending my life, would I have experienced the same dislike? I couldn't say that not liking something was equivalent to liking something else. In the name of simplicity, I added _dislikes pain_ to my list of preferences.

When I had woken in the hospital, I had appreciated the obvious exits after my experience in the whiteness. _Dislikes confinement,_ I noted. Then: _dislikes white rooms._

I considered my clothing. The blue hospital gown was not as sturdy as my white dress had been. It was thin enough to allow variations in air temperature to affect the skin beneath it. It wasn't as protective as good clothing should be. _Prefers clothing optimized to the environment._

I wondered if I was enjoying this categorization. I pulled my lips back from my teeth in a facsimile of a smile but it felt unnatural, as if my face wasn't meant to take that shape. I let my expression fall back into its neutral mask.

It wasn't an activity I disliked (otherwise I would cease). I couldn't admit to liking it, either.

I picked up the closest box and opened it, removing a set of sheets and a blanket. These were for the bedroom, I assessed, and set them off to the side.

I wanted to be able to accomplish the task Kouji had set for me. He had implied that this was something natural, this 'making friends'. It should be something inherent, if I were the same kind of creature he was. If I was a living human being.

Now that I had accepted the premise of my being alive, I expected myself to be able to do the things he said I could.

It required further study. I needed to experiment with new situations, to find more things to like and dislike. I had to experiment with 'making friends'. Though my experiment with death had been flawed (too hasty in design, too reckless), it had revealed new things to me. Pain, survival instinct.

Subjective as it would be, it was the only means I had to explore the reality I found myself in.

The items the psychiatrist had purchased didn't provoke any new discoveries. They were understandable choices with obvious uses, though they seemed superfluous.

Looking through the numerous boxes and sacks Kouji had brought, I was struck by how _many_ there were. More than I had expected him to be able to carry in one trip. Or at least, be able to purchase in the time he had been gone.

Much of the pile seemed geared more toward _comfort_ than survival. He had bought a dress to replace the white one (the fate of which I couldn't say for certain, as it had not been returned to me and no one had commented on it) and another one besides–this one in a light pink. Two pairs of pants and a large yellow t-shirt were also included. Kouji seemed to have misjudged my size, however, as the shirt was slightly too loose and fell off my shoulder when I slipped it over my head.

The range of clothing types was low. I would have to purchase clothes for different seasons and weather if I needed them, it seemed.

Another bag revealed a pair of sandals and several packages of underwear and socks, labelled for "girls, ages 8-10." These gave me pause. I hadn't been wearing these when I awoke in the clearing, and I wondered if they were completely necessary. He had acquired them specifically for me, so he must have thought they were.

Perhaps the matrix included cultural norms that differed from those of the village I now lived in, as it had included different languages. I was becoming increasingly aware of how little information I had in comparison to the seemingly vast amounts I would need.

I made a note to be more aware and seek a way to remedy this. Kouji had mentioned a library where I could access information without recompense. I would attempt to locate and utilize it tomorrow, I decided.

I was more and more convinced that my low Character score was responsible for my comprehension problems. In light of all that I had learned, it was probably due to a lack of experience as well.

As Kouji had implied, societal norms had to be learned within the society itself.

Beyond the clothing, there was a miscellaneous arrangement of bowls, plates, cups, and cutlery which I placed in the kitchen, along with a small towel. There were no cooking implements or food. I added these to the list of things I would need to purchase on my own. I could easily calculate how many calories I needed to consume each day and budget the money I had received accordingly.

Two towels, a two-in-one body lotion and hair wash, and a package of soap were placed in the bathroom. The toilet paper went to the toilet. I placed the pillows, sheets, and a large and downy comforter in the bedroom.

These items were functional and I would use them, though I might not have considered it had I been the one picking purchases. This worried me slightly. What had Kouji not bought that I would need to buy that would never occur to me?

I would need food and water. Water was in the tap. Food could be purchased. My need for shelter was already met.

Other than that, I was clueless.

The last bag was both confounding and compelling.

On one hand, it held the likeness of a brown bear. It was miniature, made of soft brown fiber-fur, and seemingly filled with cotton. Its face was stitched into a pleasingly neutral expression, with black button eyes and a tiny thread mouth, and a blue ribbon had been tied around its neck. The facsimile was not at all a good one; the bear appeared more humanoid than ursine, and it was only the size of my torso.

However, it was large and soft and it would serve the same purpose as the pillow. I set the bear on top of the pillow, leaning against the headboard, and laid back against it.

As I suspected, it was a comfortable position. I added _cotton-stuffed animal likenesses_ to my list of likes.

On the other hand, there were three hardback books related to various subjects: _Cooking on a Budget, History of the Fire Nation,_ and _Masters of Fire: Legendary Shinobi._ The cookbook would be useful. The other two seemed to be history books, a subject the matrix had no information on, and would be interesting.

There were two scrolls, edged in green, which appeared to be used rather than new purchases like the books. I wondered if Kouji had gifted me his own belongings.

If so, I wondered if I should return the favor. The other items fell under "mission expenses" he had said, but if these had come from him, the matrix supplied a general sense of _reciprocity_ that this situation would merit.

I opened one of the scrolls. Before I could begin to analyse the contents, a box opened before me.

 **Learn the Skill [Basic Chakra Control]? Requires: Intelligence 15 Y/N**

Recalling my stats, I was certain I could, in fact, learn this skill. [ Yes ]

My body seized. Unable to move, I watched distantly as the scroll in my hands rippled and dissolved into light. A prickle of not-quite-pain burst behind my eyes. The pressure mounted and I found my lungs expanding and collapsing at a higher rate to accommodate my elevated pulse.

After a moment, I could move again. My heart rate returned to normal. I slumped against the bear-likeness.

 **Learned [Basic Chakra Control]! This skill increases your pool of chakra by 25 points! You are now able to manipulate your own pure chakra. This is the basic step that all ninja must take on the path to greatness!**

My body pulsed with a new bloodstream. Winding like reaching vines, digging through soft tissues and twining with capillaries, I could feel the warmth within me. Had it always been there, or had the matrix created it with this new information?

 **You've unlocked [Chakra Sense]! You can now feel chakra within a fifteen meter radius.**

And with that, my world expanded. Three, four, fivesixseveneightnine, out and out, there were trees everywhere. It wasn't sight—it was more like touch. A warmth in my mind. The closer they were, the clearer this warmth resolved into the loops and coils of the chakra system. The farther out, the less clear until my new sense petered out completely.

Presumably at fifteen meters.

 _Everyone_ had chakra, myself included. In fact, now that I was focusing, there was a sort of warm mist, barely noticeable. Perhaps it was radiated chakra from the living things around me. Maybe it was just that the air usually had chakra in it.

This explained why chakra was tied to my health. Here, it was an essential element necessary to life. I would hazard that it existed in bioavailable forms within plants and animals so that consumption increased chakra levels. Similarly, it seemed that human beings naturally produced it, according to my newly acquired knowledge.

 **Utilizing your knowledge to reach new conclusions has increased your Intelligence by 1.**

That again.

I picked up the other scroll.

 **Learn the Skill [Basic Taijutsu (Floating Leaf Style)]? Requires: Intelligence 15 Strength 15 Y/N**

[ Yes ]

My body doesn't freeze this time, but the pressure in my brain is still present. I breathe through it. I think the matrix is nullifying a pain response because my body is reacting in the manner it would were it injured.

 **Learned [Basic Taijutsu (Floating Leaf Style)]! This is a basic style of martial arts learned by young students of the shinobi arts in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.**

I hover over the books for a moment, contemplating. I imagine the same thing will happen to these—they will vanish in a flash of light as the matrix absorbs their data. They were gifts and I wonder if Kouji will be saddened to see them gone.

Yet, gifts were meant to be used. This was the most efficient way to make use of my gifts.

The decision was practically made for me.

 **Learned [Basic Cooking].**

 **Learned [History (Fire Nation)]**

 **Learned [History (Fire Nation: Shinobi)]**

I was left gasping, new knowledge streaming through my consciousness. The land of fire, _Hi no Kuni,_ was full of extraordinary shinobi with incredible skills. The basic outline of the government, the formation of the five great hidden villages, and the basic diplomatic relations between these countries were now imprinted onto my consciousness.

I lay back against the soft bear, holding a hand over my heart, feeling the racing _thth_ thumping. I gulp air down greedily.

It was certainly a rush. After a moment, I can finally breathe normally.

My body is fine but my mind is racing, struggling with everything it now held. Perhaps on instinct, I curled against the bear and held it close, eyes closing.

The brain processed better during sleep, after all.

 ** _TRANSITION_**

 **You've slept for 8 hours! HP is full again! All injuries are healed!**

At least I know that the message will always tell me how long I've been sleeping. I left the bear behind on the bed and set about using the bathroom and shower rooms. I cleaned my colorless hair and pale body with a mechanical accuracy. I dried, then donned the white dress Kouji had purchased.

I considered for a bit before pulling on the underwear as well.

The matrix offered no suggestions as to my next actions. So I decided to follow Kouji's advice: _"You could do some exploring! Familiarize yourself with the landscape, and maybe buy some stuff if I forgot anything. Maybe meet kids your age and make some friends!"_

With this in mind, I set about exploring the surrounding area. I found the pair of sandals, put them on, and stepped out.

After locking the door and storing the key in my inventory, I picked a direction and started walking.

The village was much the same as I had seen yesterday, though now I looked at with the knowledge I'd gained from the History books. The people I passed lit up my senses with their twining, twisty chakra and I noticed that some had a heavier presence than others. It was interesting to feel people enter and leave my circle of awareness. Eventually, appartement buildings gave way to stores.

Equipped with Basic Cooking, I set out to buy enough calories to fuel my body for the week. I selected recipes that required much of the same ingredients, as the book suggested, in order to conserve money. I tallied the products I'd bought and then removed the appropriate amount from my inventory before going to the counter.

The storekeeper didn't seem at all interested in me beyond performing his function, and I approved of his diligence. However, distant interactions like this would make acquiring friends difficult.

"Sir," I spoke up, mindful of the conversation about honorifics, as he counted out my change. "Where would I find children my own age?"

The man stared at me.

I stared back.

"Uhm," his voice was rough and he coughed as though it pained him to speak. "I, uh, maybe the park?"

The intonation swung up like a question.

"Which?" I clarified. There were several parks in the village proper. It was a very green place.

"There's one with a jungle gym and swings by the Oak Orphanage, I think," he replied, still staring at me. "That's about three blocks—"

"I have a map," I informed him, cutting off the helpful but unnecessary elucidation. "I will find it. Thank you."

I gathered my purchases and left with an "uh…okay?" following me out the door.

The map directed me past my home, so I deposited my purchases there and created a quick lunch to take with me. Then, I made my way to the park.

There was a jungle gym, as the shopkeeper had said. It was a tall structure with a tower, twisting ropes and ladders and bars coming off like a demented spider. The whole thing was crawling with children. The swings hung from an extended bar and were occupied by only one person: a small boy with blond hair. He had an overlarge shirt that made me wonder if he, too, had been gifted clothes.

There were no children near him. That made approaching much easier.

As I came towards him, I focused on his chakra signature. It was bright and heavy, like some of the others I had felt but not pegged to any individual. It settled like a great beast at the edge of my consciousness.

[ Inspect ] I commanded.

 **Naruto Uzumaki LV 1, Academy Student. Somewhat of a pariah, his dream is to be Hokage.**

A pariah, I knew, meant an outcast. I considered averting my course so that I kept in line with the social structure. However, the matrix assured me that he wanted to become the leader of this place. Thus, this social structure must not be entirely rigid. He was at the bottom now, it seemed, but he didn't have to remain there.

When I was a few steps away, my shadow fell over him and he finally looked up. Blue eyes, blue as the sky I had seen when I came to be.

I blinked.

He blinked back.

He squinted at me. "What do _you_ want?"

"I have been advised to explore the landscape and make friends my own age. How old are you?"

His eyes widened.

"Uh," he gaped. "I'm eight?"

People tended to mar their statements with upward intonation in this place, it seemed.

"I'm eight as well. We can be friends then," I nodded to myself.

"We can?"

"Yes."

I sat on the swing beside him, body angled so I could look into his face. My feet dangled before me and the sandals hung by the straps from my toes.

A silence fell on us, him staring at me as I stared back.

Nothing happened.

"I've been told that to make friends I have to know their likes and dislikes, then spend time with them and enjoy it," I confided. "I don't know how to enjoy something but I have been compiling a list of likes and dislikes. Would it be alright to share it?"

Uzumaki Naruto squinted so much his eyes seemed to close, tilting his head as I spoke. "Yeah?"

"Okay," I said. I squared my shoulders and recited: "I dislike confinement and white rooms. I prefer clothing that is optimized for the environment. I like cotton-stuffed animal likenesses."

"You like stuffed animals?" He asked, eyes widening and a smile breaking out on his face.

I considered. That was a much more succinct way to put it. I nodded.

"I have a stuffed toad at home! He's super soft and fluffy."

"I have a bear. It was gifted to me today as a housewarming present."

"Housewarming? Didja just move?"

"I have acquired an appartement. I did not move, per se. I have no memory of living anywhere else."

"Wow," he seemed impressed with this, though I'm not sure why. My character stat, I presume.

He grinned and stuck a hand out towards me. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage!"

I took his hand and shook it. Name and title. "Yuu. Academy Student."

"Huh, me too! Guess we'll be classmates!" His grin widened. "And friends, right?"

"Right." I confirmed.

 **You've made friends with Naruto Uzumaki following Kouji's advice! +25 EXP**

 **LEVEL UP!**

I froze. Naruto's face dropped the smile. I could see him speaking but I couldn't hear him. My body spasmed and I fell from the swing.

He hurried to catch me, shaking me, trying to get a response.

 **Congratulations, you've reached Level 2! You may now assign 5 points to any of your skills. You may also choose a perk! Perks are permanent bonuses that can be gained at different levels. They are related to your skills and will help you on your path to greatness.**

 **Choose One:**

 **[Killer Instinct] You can pinpoint a weak spot in an enemies defense easily. +20 to damage when inflicting a killing blow.**

 **[Chakra Monster] Adds +100 to CP and halves the recharge time.**

 **[Prodigy] Adds +2 skill points to every level up.**

 **[Bookworm] Book-learned skills now start at level 2**

 **[Brute] Increases Physical Resistance by 5, decreases blunt force damage by 15%**

I tried to move my body, but there was no response. Naruto was still kneeling over me, mouth open wide as he called for help. The image was frozen. I had entered the accelerated state. I wondered why I had fallen over first.

Considering the Perks the matrix offered me, I wondered if there were some more useful than others. Killer Instinct and Brute would only be useful if I were engaged in combat. Nothing I had seen or read suggested I would be thrown into battle soon. There was a chance of attack—Konoha had been assailed at times in the past—but it was negligible now.

Prodigy would increase the effectiveness of my leveling, but Bookworm would increase the effectiveness of my skill-learning. Chakra Monster would bring my chakra points in line with my health and decrease the wait time for recharging.

Eventually, I chose [ Prodigy ]. Reaching level 2 for the skills I had now had not been difficult, at least for Inspect and Lipreading. Prodigy would help me increase my effectiveness past those levels.

 **You may now assign your 7 points to your skills.**

Seven points? Prodigy worked for this level up as well?

Interesting.

A list of my skills opened up before me.

I added a point to every category that was not yet level 2 in order to even out my scores. Then, I placed the final point in the Inspect Skill. It was a useful ability that improved my data gathering, after all.

 **Level Up complete! Saving progress…**

Reality began to move again. Although I couldn't feel any pain, I could tell my body was reacting as if it were injured. I was hyperventilating and I twitched and twisted wildly. Someone (Naruto, of course it was, he was the one near me) was gripping my hands. I gripped back, heaving excessively.

A chakra tree entered my range at an impressive pace and there was suddenly a shinobi at my side.

"What happened?" A woman's voice questioned.

Mori Kanae, the doctor who had seen to my injuries.

"Sh-she just collapsed. We were talking and she went really still and she just fell over!"

Adult hands pried my fingers from Naruto's. I noted distantly that I had left welts in his palm, welts that were now welling with blood. Oh, that wasn't good. I hadn't meant to hurt him. Kanae's hand closed over the injuries and then pulled away. The skin was shiny and new again.

"Get back a little, I have to see if she can be moved. She may be having a seizure."

Naruto scrambled back a pace but didn't leave my line of sight. I tried to convey that I was not in pain, but my face refused to move. I couldn't close my mouth and I could feel saliva dripping down my cheek as the doctor laid me out on the ground, head titled to the side.

My body twitched but she held me down mercilessly. Nothing inside my body hurt but the pressure she was putting on me _did_. I heard a keening noise from my own throat.

"Yuu, can you hear me?" I heard, but I could not respond. One hand was on my chest and it became warm and heavy as chakra filled it. The chakra flowed from her body into mine and I could feel it searching.

She gasped.

There was a sort of feedback loop. My nerves could not feel anything within me, but through my observation of her chakra I could _perceive_ the division and multiplication of my cells. My own chakra network was moving, squirming into a new positon to accomplish the enhancements the matrix now imposed.

Hopefully I would not react like this every time. I was not in pain but the paralysis was disconcerting.

"I…Shit, I don't know what to do," the woman was whispering. Then, a little louder, she said: "Yuu, I'm right here, okay? This…this may be your bloodline limit at work. Are you in pain?"

I jerked my head, trying to shake it. She held my hand. I felt a shaking, smaller appendage slip into my other as Naruto crawled back into his spot at my side.

"Sh-she's gonna be okay right? She's my friend! My…We just…I just…"

"If it is what I think it is," Kanae replied, "she should be fine. Abilities like hers don't survive to become this complex if they kill the user."

My shakes and shivers were subsiding and I found myself back in control of my motor functions.

"I'm alright," I said, wincing at the rawness of my throat. "It was not painful."

Naruto's sigh of relief was noisier than Kanae's.

"Kid, what the hell happened?" the doctor asked.

I wasn't sure I knew the answer.

 ** _PAUSE_**

 **Level 2, Name: Yuu, Age: 8, Gender: ?, Status: ?.**

 **Academy Student**

 **[ Prodigy ] Adds +2 skill points to every level up.**

 **Character 1**

 **Strength 23**

 **Precision 10**

 **Willpower 18**

 **Intelligence 30**

 **Skills**

 **Basic Cooking 2**

 **Basic Chakra Control 2**

 **Basic Taijutsu (Floating Leaf Style) 2**

 **Death Sense 2**

 **History (Fire Nation),(Fire Nation: Shinobi) 2**

 **Physical Resistance 2**

 **Inspect 3**

 **Lipreading 2**

 ** _Active Quests_**

 **Become a ninja of the Leaf!**


End file.
